And Nothing But the Stars Above Us, Part 1
by berry-cool
Summary: Cassian is finally teaching Jyn how to fly that X-Wing… But all does not seem to be going well. Part of Rogue One: Encore series.


Bodhi leant back in his chair, a cap partially obscuring his face as he looked up at the sky, tilting down his tinted black glasses to better see up into the brilliant blue sky.

Typical, he thought as he felt his figure settle well into the canopy of the chair, and smiled to himself. Just typical for it to be all so damn poetic for them.

Just then, as if on cue, two X-Wings zipped overhead so fast and so low that Bodhi had to place a hand on his head to make sure that it didn't fly off.

"Go Jyn!" he cried out, punching the air with his fist.

"The captain's not gonna like that," said a cheerful voice, and Bodhi looked over to see Luke Skywalker pull over a chair to join him.

"Aw don't pretend," Bodhi grinned. "You're on her side too."

The other pilot sighed and propped his head up on one of his hands.

"Yeah, alright," he admitted. "But then again who isn't?"

Up in the sky Jyn was in no less than the greatest bliss. Only three days ago Cassian had quietly come to see her and had said that he heard talk that she was trying to get someone to teach her to fly an X-Wing and since everyone seemed oddly busy, preoccupied or ill (that last one was Kaytoo's excuse), he would be happy to teach her.

She had happily accepted his offer, though the prospect made her anxious in a way that she rationalised as nerves given that she was now actually facing the prospect of actually being able to fly an X-Wing at long last. To her surprise Cassian had been a patient and persistent teacher and now here she was, three days later, racing against him.

He had suggested the day before that they fly alongside one another to give her a chance to practice more on her own without his immediate guidance, but in truth Jyn had been a little cheeky. She had got up every document, every book she could get her hands on to ensure that this flight today would go off well. More than well, really. And so after a good half hour in the air she had felt confident enough to challenge Cassian to a race. He had balked at first, sounding nervous on the other end of the comms, but she remembered some words Han had said to her when she discussed her flight with him in the mess hall that morning: 'whatever you wanna do, just do it anyway.'

So she just took off and now she was soaring through the sky, Cassian hot in pursuit, and Jyn felt a twinge of smugness knowing that she was putting him through his paces. She was not an expert at this ship yet by any means, but by god would she show him that she was going to be damn good at it.

Down on the tarmac Luke and Bodhi continued to watch in amusement as the ships zoomed dangerously overhead.

Suddenly Luke stood up and squinted, looking at the faint images above him. Bodhi looked at him in surprise until he looked forward closer and realised what it was that Luke was looking at.

"She needs to slow down," said Bodhi. "The engine - its old, it won't be able to take it if she keeps pushing it like that. I'm not seeing things, right? I mean, I know it's within atmostphere flight but it's -"

"- Smoking, yeah!" said Luke, who ran inside to access some comma to Jyn. Bodhi began to wave to attract her attention knowing that the attempts would be futile.

And he realised that up in the Cassian was approaching the opposite side of the ship that was smoking; but she appeared to take this as a challenge to push the ship further.

Bodhi's mouth dropped open as he saw the ship loop in the sky not one, two, but five times.

"Jyn, come down!" Bodhi heard Luke say from somewhere inside the hangar. "Jyn, can you hear me? Land!"

Bodhi looked up as the trail of smoke from one of the engines grew more frantic than ever and he didn't want to think about the worry on Cassian's face as he desperately tried to trail her, try to force her to land. And then the ship looped again!

The breath caught in his throat as the ship almost seemed to hang in the air before righting itself and then coming down to land on the tarmac.

People ran out to fan the smoke until the ship stopped moving and Jyn jumped out, a grin on her face. Cassian was close behind her on the landing and close behind her out of the cockpit. From his position around ten feet away he watched as the Captain strode forward to her, a furious look on his face.

Whatever he said to her wiped the smile off her face so that they both stood opposite each other, fists clenched, faces contorted in anger.

"That was dangerous," said Bodhi, as he heard Luke approach behind him.

"Yes," the younger pilot said. "Yes... but..."

In front of them they saw Cassian spit out some words neither of them could read and Jyn turned on her heel and strode off.

"She was trying to..."

"Hm?" said Bodhi, turning to glance and Luke.

There was a curious look on Luke's face, one that only seemed to dawn as in front of them both of them suddenly saw Cassian run from where Jyn had left him standing to catch up with her, a look of deep regret on his face as he placed a hand on her shoulder, murmured words.

They watched as Jyn looked up at him.

The next words she said both of them could read from her lips clear as day.

"I can always save myself."

Next to him Bodhi heard Luke sigh and he turned to see the younger man shake his head.

"He just wants to prove to her he can protect her, she just wants to prove herself his equal. Gosh, they're both so stupid," Bodhi heard Luke mumble.

Bodhi nodded. Days of effort by half the people he knew to get this X-Wing plan in place and now...

"You know..." he heard Luke say slowly, a hint of mischievousness in his voice. "The stars look mighty pretty at night. Quite a view from a cockpit."

Bodhi grinned and the two pilots smirked at each other.

"It would be funny if one, or maybe even both of them thought of that by way of an apology," Bodhi replied.

Luke nodded, and made to respond.

"Wouldn't it just?" he drawled. "Wouldn't it just..."


End file.
